The Center for Digital Government announced the results of its 2020 Digital States Survey, a biennial evaluation of the technology practices of all 50 states. Oklahoma maintained its B grade evaluation based on quantifiable results of the state’s use of technology to improve service delivery, increase capacity, streamline operations and achievement of policy goals.
Since the last biennial survey in 2018, grades improved in 10 states. Sixteen states earned top grades. Arizona, North Carolina and Texas rose to an A- designation and Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Utah maintained their A marks. Rhode Island was the most improved state, moving up from a C to a B+.
“Ten states improved their grades, an indication that they made smart technology investments and successfully leveraged those investments to deal with urgent changes in operations and remote work prompted by the pandemic,” said Teri Takai, co-director of the Center for Digital Government.
The survey evaluated states based on a set of criteria that included actions supporting state priorities and policies to improve operations or services, hard and soft-dollar savings/benefits, progress since the last survey, innovative and citizen-centric services, and effective collaboration. Those states receiving high marks demonstrated results across all criteria.
“Survey results revealed cybersecurity, budget and cost control, citizen engagement and experience, and cloud computing are the states’ top four priorities, with IT collaboration and IT governance moving up to fifth and sixth,” said Takai. “We are also seeing emerging best practices from states around addressing the digital divide and infrastructure modernization.”
Summary of Oklahoma’s Survey Evaluation
Involved with much of Oklahoma’s technological progress over the past two years were the state’s first chief operating officer, its first secretary of digital transformation and a new chief information officer, appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. Under their direction, security was a major focus at OMES, which set up the Oklahoma Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a private-public partnership with telecom companies, schools, and state and local agencies. OMES also updated the state’s security policy, started a compliance team focused exclusively on security requirements and procedures, moved the state’s mainframe to an outside service so it would be more secure and adaptable in a disaster, deployed a new threat detection tool and a new spam filter and conducted continuity of operations training with the Department of Emergency Management. With the exception of the OSBI, law enforcement agencies are moving their data to the OMES Data Center, and public safety agencies are transferring their communications equipment to FirstNet.
Citizen-facing projects were plentiful, with several mentioned on the online services portal, my.ok.gov. Built with Granicus’ govServices platform, it hosts 26 non-DMV licensing services for 18 agencies, from occupational licensing to driver’s license renewals, and more than 32 digitized forms upgraded from paper or PDF. The platform services approximately 54,000 users per month. The state also worked with OpenGov on a public website to display state agency spending, launched an online portal for food benefits and child services, started a long-term project to build an intelligent transportation system with strategically placed cameras and other sensors, and used a CARES Act Grant to put 50,000 Verizon hot spots in school districts throughout the state for students who didn’t have wi-fi at home.
2020 Digital States Survey Grades
A
Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Utah
A-
Arizona, California, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin
B+
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Tennessee
B
Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia.
B-
Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, and South Dakota
C+
Nevada and Wyoming
C
Alaska
